4.  The applicant was born in 1940 and lives in Plovdiv.
5.  On 20 July 1997 she brought proceedings before the Madan District Court against her five siblings for the division of a piece of real property. Between January and April 1998 the court held three hearings and admitted two expert reports in evidence. On 30 April 1998 it allowed the division of only part of the property.
6.  The applicant appealed to the Smolyan Regional Court, claiming that the lower court should have allowed the division of the whole property. A hearing listed for 30 June 1998 was adjourned owing to improper summoning of one of the respondents. The court held two hearings, in May and October 1998, and on 30 April 1999 upheld the lower court's judgment.
7.  The applicant appealed on points of law. A hearing listed for 28 February 2000 was adjourned owing to improper summoning of four of the respondents. It was held on 25 September 2000. On 7 November 2000 the Supreme Court of Cassation, finding, inter alia, that the Smolyan Regional Court had seriously breached basic rules of procedure, quashed its judgment and remitted the case back to that court.
8.  Between December 2000 and March 2002 eight hearings were listed. Medical and financial expert reports were prepared. The case was adjourned once because the applicant and some of the respondents had not been summoned in due time. Another adjournment was ordered because an expert report had not been filed in due time, and another because an expert could not attend the hearing. Two adjournments were ordered because the applicant requested additional tasks to be assigned to the experts.
9.  On 28 March 2002 the Smolyan Regional Court partly reversed the Madan District Court's judgment of 30 April 1998. The applicant appealed on points of law. After hearing the appeal on 10 February 2003, on 4 March 2003 the Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the lower court's judgment.
10.  After that the second phase of the proceedings, during which the court was due to carry out the division of the property (see paragraph 14 below), began before the Madan District Court. The court held hearings on 14 April and on 2 June 2003. At the hearing on 2 June 2003 it ordered the case to be sent to the Smolyan Regional Court for the correction of two obvious factual errors in the operative provisions of the judgment of 28 March 2002. That entailed the suspension of the proceedings before the Madan District Court.
11.  On 21 July 2003 the Smolyan Regional Court agreed to make one of the requested corrections but refused to make the other one. One of the respondents appealed. After hearing the appeal on 13 April 2004, on 29 April 2004 the Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the Smolyan Regional Court.
12.  The proceedings then resumed before the Madan District Court. The court held two hearings at which it admitted in evidence a technical expert report and a number of documents. On 1 December 2004 it allocated the property to one of the respondents. None of the parties appealed against that judgment and it became final.
13.  As the Madan District Court omitted to award costs, on an unspecified date the parties lodged requests seeking a costs order. In additional decisions of 10 and 14 January 2005 the court ordered the respondents to reimburse part of the applicant's costs. After that, there were appeal proceedings and proceedings for correction of obvious factual errors in the two decisions. Those proceedings ended on 5 July 2005.